July 11, 2011

Editor's note: The following is a blog-style entry by former letterwinner Kyle Bunthuwong about the July 9 gymnastics meet that served as the qualifier for the Visa Championships. Bunthuwong, along with fellow former Golden Bear Bryan del Castillo and soon-to-be senior Glen Ishino, will compete at the Visa Championships, which serves as the USA Gymnastics national championships and will be held in Saint Paul, Minn., Aug. 17-20.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - As a result of both combined sessions, I finished fifth in the all-around with an 81.0. In addition to the fifth-place finish, I claimed the top spot on parallel bars with a 14.4, which was .15 points higher than the national qualifier winner - Edward Mesa from Universal Gymnastics.

Out of the Golden Bears there - Steven Lacombe, Glen Ishino and myself - I was the only Bear who competed in the all-around. I posted a 15.05 on the vault, a 14.4 on parallel bars, a 13.6 on high bar and a 13.2 on the floor exercise.

We started the competition on the still rings. I started things for the Bears with a watered-down routine, meaning a routine with lower valued skills.

Rings was the only event of the day for Steven Lacombe, who finished with a 13.8, placing fourth out of both sessions. Steve's routine up to the dismount was one of the cleanest I've seen him do in a while. Unfortunately, feeling the effects of the high altitude, he was unable to do his regular dismount but still finished the routine with a lower value dismount.

The last event for the Bears was the pommel horse. Glen Ishino began things for the Cal contingent on his one event of the afternoon. Glen started out great, nailing more than half of the routine, but fell on his Magyar travel.

Glen finished the event and received a 13.45, which was good for fifth place out of both sessions. Pommel was also my last event of the day, too, but it didn't go as well as I would have like. Unfortunately, I couldn't end on a high note because I fell off the horse and received a pretty low score. But I feel that we did our job here. We came here to qualify.

Unfortunately, Steven Lacombe was not able to qualify, due to a lack of points earned by placing on an event. I am pleased to report that I'll be joining Glen and Bryan del Castillo in Saint Paul, Minn., in August for the 2011 Visa Championships.

Go Bears!
Kyle